The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus. Is it in your collection and is it worth buying?

That's my favorite moment as well, along with the close up shot of John and Keith's shoes, tapping in unison.

The Stones' performance isn't all that bad at all. I personally think Mick held it back because he has pitch problems, especially on Jumping Jack Flash. All the performances are great, led by The Who of course, but Tull, Taj Majal (with a very happy looking Jesse Ed Davis) and Marianne all deliver excellent performances. I even enjoy Yoko's song, if nothing else for the groove that Eric and Keith create (essentially "Dizzy Miss Lizzie") and the hilarious reaction of Ivry Gitlis, the classically trained violinist who had no idea what he was getting into (and who, last I heard, was still performing concerts around the world at the age of 90+).

Love the grimey circus atmosphere. The performers appear second rate, ragged and well past their prime - they wouldn't have been out of place on the cover of Exile on Main Street.

 

I have the CD and the DVD. I'd say the DVD is essential for Stones fans, even though it's easy to see why it wasn't released at the time. You don't put out an album like Beggars Banquet and then sully the mood by putting out a sub-par performance like that. (Same thing with Sticky Fingers/Marquee Club). Especially when the best parts of the whole show are from two of your opening acts (Dirty Mac and The Who, of course).

 

You may be missing the point of this release. Sure the presentation was "heavy on sixties hippie vibe. " It was, after all, December 1968. That's what was going on then. It may look "silly" sitting here in 2017 watching it, but I think the whole point of releasing it after all these years was for the historical significance.

You have the Stones, Who, Lennon, Clapton and others, basically having a party together.

Sure, it may seem clumsy in parts, but how could something like this be permanently locked in the vaults??

No way. Warts and all this was to important to not see the light of day!

And for my money...it's one hell of a great time!

 

The absolute highlight of the film!

 

By far and away

 

Completely forgot to mention Marianne. That's a terrific song. Wish she'd sung the other side Sister Morphine too.
I have read that Lennon wrote "And Your Bird Can Sing" about Mick and his "bird" Marianne.
Mick's song "And Your Bird Cannot" was left unreleased and will be included on the long awaited Let It Bleed deluxe.

 

That's blocked over here. It's this one - My mother was of the earth, my father was of the sky....

The beatles - Yer blues - Ultra rare trax

 

The unofficial version has even better stuff such as several superb Taj Mahal classics!

 

It's excellent and we'll worth owning!

 

I do understand there's a lot of historical importance with this release. That's not lost on me at all. I'm very glad they finally released it. I was simply commenting on the original question, of whether it's worth buying. I don't own it, and I'm a big Stones fan! I think it's somewhat similar to Magical Mystery Tour. Sort of a cool experiment, but not really that great at the end of the day. And like that film, it's the music that saves it. So yes, overall it's a great period piece, and wonderful for that, but being objective, not the Stones' finest hour, imo.

 

I was just reading the Wiki write-up of the event....

This was the last public performance of Brian Jones with the Rolling Stones, and for much of the Stones performance he is inaudible, although his slide guitar on "No Expectations", maracas on "Sympathy for the Devil", and rhythm guitar on "Jumpin' Jack Flash" remain clear. Ian Anderson remarked:

Poor old Brian Jones was well past his sell-by date by then… We spoke to Brian and he didn't really know what was going on. He was rather cut off from the others – there was a lot of embarrassed silence. But a delightful chap, and we felt rather sorry for him… I was approached for an interview by a chap from Record Mirror… I inadvertently remarked that the Stones were a bit under-rehearsed and that poor old Brian Jones couldn't even tune his guitar, which was literally the truth but a bit tactless and inappropriate for me to say. This was duly reported, whereupon Mick Jagger was mightily upset. I had to send a grovelling apology to his office.[11]

 

I always take Ian Anderson with a grain of salt. Everything is dramatized with him and over the top

 

I honestly find it too slapdash, and not worth repeat viewings...unlike the TAMI Show, oddly enough, which I think holds up a lot better.

 

Get the DVD, not the CD. The music is great but the whole package with the image (from such an iconic era) is the real deal.

 

I loved 20 years ago driving around listening to the tape I made of the CD. But at home of course, you have to have the video playing if your going to listen to this

 

I wonder why it hasn't been released on blu-ray yet? Perhaps they could upgrade the image and the sound, add new outtake footage from the rehearsals and make a new documentary including interviews with those who were part of the film while they are still alive to talk about it.

 

There is plenty "left in the can", they can even release the edit the BBC was going to show before it was shelved. With Brian introducing "the clowns", which of course didn't make the ABCKO release

 

Did the Stones invite just John (plus Yoko) or were the 4 Beatles invited and John was the only one who accepted it?
I can only imagine how great it would have been to see Paul and George singing a couple of songs from the White Album (like "Helter Skelter" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"), being backed by Clapton and various members of the Stones.

 

That is a great question, that I never thought about before. Since both camps and management were cool with each other at the time, I would think certainly "feelers" were addressed to the other boys via Lennon. The Beatles were so self absorbed at the time, who knows whether they would of done it or not

 

I saw the movie a long time ago. It's a classic.

 

I've got the CD and the DVD. It's not exactly a classic - more a fun little curio, with a reputation that inflated over time because it took so long to come out. Not life-changing, but enjoyable.

It even includes an "outtake" from Let It Be - Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who directed the Circus, also directed Let It Be a month later, during which time he filmed a short snippet of John Lennon introducing the Stones in mock sign language because he'd forgotten to film an introduction during the event.

I believe it has the earliest existing footage of Jethro Tull. (The John Evan Band appeared on regional television in 1967 but I don't think any recording survives.) They had just fired Mick Abrahams and hadn't yet hired a replacement, so Tony Iommi filled in. Ian sang a live vocal over the studio backing track, because Tony's injured hand couldn't play Mick's guitar part. Because the vocal overlapped the pre-recorded harmonica, Glenn Cornick did double duty faking the harmonica (hands-free, Dylan-style) and the bass guitar. Some other performances used prerecording backing tracks as well - Marianne Faithfull had no visible musical accompanists, and the Stones were sitting in the audience without instruments for "Salt of the Earth."

 

I will have to watch it again, but the vocal to Song For Jeffery was pre-recorded as well. They basically just mimed the record. This Was is the only Tull album I have ever owned and I really like it. even 20 years ago I found no difference from their performance and the album

 

Listen to them back to back - the vocal performances are similar but not identical. In a 1996 interview in Mojo, Ian confirmed: "I was live and the other guys were Memorex."

 

Well, the next time I'm at the other house I will. I watched the video, listened to the Circus album and This Was over and over and it all sounded the same to me. We will see

 

One of my favorites was Ain't That A Lot Of Love by Taj Mahal. I also dig No Expectations, Parachute Woman and Jumpin' Jack Flash. I think the Who's performance is overrated. The show was running way behind schedule so the Stones didn't actually play until early in the morning.